1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a recoil starter in which a rope is pulled to rotate to transmit rotation of the rope reel to a drive pulley connected to an engine crankshaft via a clutch mechanism to thereby start the engine.
2. Background Art
There is known a recoil starter including a rope reel around which a rope is wound and which is rotationally urged by a recoil spring to rewind the rope, a cam to be engaged with a drive pulley coupled to an engine via a centrifugal clutch to thereby transmit the rotation of the rope reel to the drive pulley, and a damper power storage mechanism interposed between the rope reel and the cam. Rotational power of the rope reel is stored in the damper power storage mechanism and then transmitted to the drive pulley via the cam to start the engine, so that impact due to an abrupt change in an engine-side is not transmitted to the rope reel side.
In such recoil starter, the damper power storage mechanism includes a power storage spring which is disposed within a recess portion on a lateral surface of the rope reel. The damper power storage mechanism also includes, as an engaging/disengaging means, a ratchet member mounted on a radial-outer portion of the rope reel and an engaging portion formed on an outer circumferential surface of the cam, the ratchet member and the engaging portion being made to engage with and disengage from each other. When the rope reel rotates in an engine-starting direction to coil up the power storage spring, the ratchet member is not in engagement with the engaging portion. And, when the rope reel rotates in an opposite direction to the engine-starting direction, the ratchet member is brought into engagement with the engaging portion so as to hold a coiled-up condition of the power storage spring, thereby storing power in the power storage spring (for example, refer to JP-2008-180144-A).
In the damper power storage mechanism of such coil starter, the ratchet member is disposed radially-outside the cam. Since the power storage spring of the damper power storage mechanism is accommodated within the recess portion on the lateral surface of the rope reel, when the ratchet member is mounted on of the outer circumferential portion of the rope reel, the accommodation space for the power storage spring is reduced or narrowed accordingly. To avoid the increase in size, for example, only one ratchet member may be provided.
When only one ratchet member is used, the operating power is not uniformly dispersed or applied between the rope reel and the cam, and hence, the operating power may be applied therebetween while being offset in one direction.
Further, since the ratchet member is disposed radially-outside the cam, dirt and dust easily enter into the ratchet member, for example, through a gap between a rotating pivot of the ratchet member and a bearing portion of the cam.